The board and management of Sterling Bank Plc begins the implementation of a five-year medium term plan aimed at enhancing its status as “Nigeria’s financial institution of choice” as it lays out the lender’s priorities in 2017
In his address to shareholders at the annual general meeting yesterday in Lagos, Managing Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola, said the directors had agreed on a five-point agenda in 2017 as the bank continues on its vision of long-term sustainable and competitive growth .
The bank plans to prioritise efficiency over scale in its decision framework to be an institution built on smart people, smart structures and smart strategies.
Adeola said the bank would also strengthen and diversify its funding sources and capacity through a quicker and smarter execution of its retail banking rollout. Besides, it will also ensure disciplined use of its institutional liquidity and capital through improvement in lending practices and overall risk management culture.
He added that the bank would also focus on excellent service delivery to internal and external customers noting that the bank’s service organisation must become the source of competitive advantage to sales organisation in order to deliver on its ‘one customer bank’ commitment.
He said the bank would reemphasise commitment to execution excellence in all its transactions.
“Over the next five years, we will be steering our ship differently and aggressively growing the retail business through electronic channels,” Adeola noted.
He said the bank would continue to boost innovative banking – driven by market insights that would enable it serve its customers satisfactorily while implementing significant investment in technology-led growth initiatives and accelerating the growth of its non-interest banking segment.
Chairman, Sterling Bank Plc, Asue Ighodalo said the bank was poised to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the economy.
He noted that the bank recorded resilient performance in 2016 in spite of the macroeconomic challenges as it reported profit after tax of N5.2 billion on gross earnings of N111.4 billion during the year.
“I am proud to report that our bank remained resilient and we recorded notable achievements. We are therefore poised to take advantage of emerging, identified and created opportunities as our economy recovers from its most difficult period in recent memory,” Ighodalo said.
He expressed optimism on the national economic recovery, pointing out that continuing improvement in the coordination of fiscal and monetary policy initiatives will expedite national economic recovery.
Shareholders severally lauded the performance of the bank.
President, Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS), Dr Faruk Umar, praised the bank for being prudent and responsible.
Founding National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu also lauded the management of the bank for its positive and encouraging performance in 2016.
